"I keep calling it the Woodstock of television," Seibert tells Mashable. "It is the biggest audience of mass television viewing in the history of moving pictures."
Seibert isn't joking. With over 1 billion unique users watching over 6 billion hours of video each month, YouTube's reach is stunning. According to Neilsen, the site reaches more U.S. adults aged 18 to 34 than any cable network.
It's easy to see why cartoon creators would forego the red tape and high pressure of cable television in favor of the Internet. Taking a cartoon from concept to production is grueling work, requiring a huge commitment from the creators and a huge paycheck from the network. More often than not, pitches never see the light of day.
Simon's Cat is hand-drawn, frame by frame. Tofield himself storyboards the episodes.
Image: Simon's Cat
On YouTube, that process is accelerated tenfold. Operating on a smaller scale with smaller risks, cartoonists can take a chance with more niche ideas and experiment with different styles. The free-for-all nature of the site allows them to have their hands in everything, from designing and writing to storyboarding and animation.
"It puts you in control, if it's your vision and it's your channel than whatever you do is yours," says Simon Tofield, creator of Simon's Cat.
"You don't have a team to impress or get in the way — if you make something and it does well, it's good."
"You don't have a team to impress or get in the way — if you make something and it does well, it's good."
Tofield himself is the perfect example of that statement. An in-house animator working on advertisements in 2008, his short animated film about a cat blew up online, leading him to create what has become the second largest animation channel on YouTube, with over 2.9 million subscribers and 500 million views. In tow are four books, two apps and loads of merchandise. The success of Simon's Cat is surprising, given that the episodes are in black and white, without dialogue and don't follow a strict airing schedule.
"That's the beauty of YouTube," Tofield tells Mashable. "On paper, if I had gone to someone with my idea of very simple line drawings, simple sounds, no color, it would've been turned down. But YouTube allows you to test these things."
The quality of animation on YouTube shows like Bravest Warriors matches that of television.
Image: Cartoon Hangover
For cartoon animators and writers, the freedom of YouTube is one of its main drawing points. Online distribution studios like Mondo Media and Frederator take a macro approach to series direction, whereas cable gets more micro with every passing year.
When Seibert attempted to bring an adult-themed show called Super F*ckers to cable networks, he encountered meeting after meeting, each one encouraging more changes and asking more questions.
"I was going through useless pieces of conversation," says Seibert. "Before they could say yes they wanted me to talk to their boss, who'd ask some other dumb questions so they could bring it to their boss, and on and on."
According to Seibert, to go through the lengthy process with a high chance of being turned down at the end is agony. Super F*ckers now exists on Frederator's HangoverUncensored channel, with 12 episodes and almost 800,000 total views.
Without the risk of advertiser abandonment, censorship and "red tape" is all but nonexistent among YouTube cartoons. Creators — even those with a studio backing — have near complete freedom when it comes to seeing their stories told in whatever way they see fit.
"We've really never had a note on Dick Figures at all," says Ed Skudder, creator of Dick Figures, an immensely popular adult cartoon web series following the adventures of two stick figures, Red and Blue. "
From day one they've just said 'You have two weeks. Manage your time and get us the episode.'
From day one they've just said 'You have two weeks. Manage your time and get us the episode.'"
That creative freedom is unheard of on cable or network television, where standards and practices are set in place to protect audiences from certain types of mature content and keep advertisers happy. Scripts are read and changed, story arcs are shifted and the entire process takes much longer.
"On the surface, there are no standards and practices on YouTube," Seibert tells Mashable. Under the hood, however, YouTube's algorithms work much in the same way as television censors, making it harder to stumble across a show like SuperF*ckers than the more family-friendly Bravest Warriors. The Internet's red tape is of the technological variety, keeping advertisers and consumers happy while allowing more adult shows to exist.
Though YouTube lacks the prestige and support of cable or network television, creators like Bee and PuppyCat's Natasha Allegri are flocking to it to create their more niche-appeal ideas.
Her show, following twenty-something Bee and the cute space-animal-thing called PuppyCat, is a blend of anime, subtle humor and badassery that, according to Allegri, can only exist online.
"A studio wouldn't have aired Bee and PuppyCat," Allegri tells me. "It's a little, I guess, awkward."
Natasha Allegri writes, storyboards, designs characters and produces Bee and PuppyCat.
Image: Cartoon Hangover
Allegri's brainchild, niche as it seems, has been viewed over 5 million times, after only two installments. A Kickstarter created to fund the series received almost $900,000. This success, Allegri says, is thanks in part to YouTube's reach and "always on" quality.
"What it comes down to, I think is that these studios are taking a chance and hoping their investment comes out okay," she says. "I'm sure they've done their studies about risks, but
I know what I like and what I buy so I create what I like.
I know what I like and what I buy so I create what I like."
For Allegri, creating an interesting, character-driven cartoon that reflects her vision — rather than the vision of a larger network with a mainstream audience in mind — is what brought her to YouTube in the first place.
Niche cartoons can remain niche and not cause problems for executives, as there is no competition over time slots. For larger networks like Frederator, that peaceful coexistence all but eliminates the challenges of visibility.
"[YouTube] gives niche things a chance to live with more mainstream things," says Seibert. "What's good about that is you can use your mass audience to introduce people to things they might not have seen and not really be upset if it doesn't translate."
Dick Figures raised over $310,000 on Kickstarter in 2012 to create a feature length film.
Image: Mondo Media
Like traditional cable and network cartoons, YouTube's biggest shows all have respectable followings on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr. These tools, along with the audience's ability to connect directly to the show through "likes" and comments, help to build fanbases quickly.
According to Seibert, the future of cartoons on YouTube isn't certain just yet, but new mediums have historically caused rapid change in the animation world.
"When television came along, it wiped out theatrical cartoons. When cable came along, it basically wiped out broadcast cartoons," says Seibert. "Now it might be that we're in a place where the Internet coming along — if history is any judge — is going to have a big effect on cable cartoons."
Created by Pen Ward of Adventure Time, Bravest Warriors' episodes sit at about five to seven minutes an episode.
Image: Cartoon Hangover
That's not to say YouTube is a television killer, as many have incorrectly predicted in the past. Today's most popular cable cartoons, like Adventure Time and Regular Show, offer some of the best stories (and highest ratings) in years. YouTube's current position in the cartoon industry seems to be more as a proving ground and foundation, for both shows and their creators.
"We have so many other things and other shows we want to get out there," says Skudder. "So while we don't want to kill Dick Figures by any means, we are interested in pursuing other things as well — we just have to find a balance."
Digital cartoons are in a constant state of evolution. While conventional wisdom about online attention spans (and costs) have kept most series short and non-linear, industry leaders like Seibert and Tofield are willing to experiment.
"It doesn't matter the medium — length is irrelevant if the audience is engaged,"
"It doesn't matter the medium — length is irrelevant if the audience is engaged," says Seibert, who is currently analyzing whether or not to adjust the length of popular series like Bravest Warriors.
In February, Frederator Studios announced it was joining forces with Simon's Cat, to handle its advertising and distribution. The merger's full results haven't yet been determined, but things certainly look good for YouTube-based cartoons.
For teams as small as those involved with Dick Figures or Simon's Cat, the consistent spread of their creations is extremely impressive. YouTube's cartoonists are embracing the ability to have creative control and a space to connect with an audience in increasing numbers. Producers like Seibert, seeing a low-risk venture with big rewards, are jumping on board to see what limits — if any — the medium has.
Step aside, Saturday mornings. The cartoon renaissance is upon us, beautifully weird and entirely digital.
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